Future over-the-top TV services will need a new marketing campaign: Something along the lines of, "All the TV you really want; cheap, but not like cable or satellite." Trouble is, that sounds like a quick rainstorm will put you into TV-snow land.

Looking for that tender, learn-a-lesson-moment from TV? Don't go to Chevy Chase for recommendations -- especially about one of the most durable of TV forms, the sitcom. Sitcoms, says NBC's "Community" actor, are the lowest form of TV. (He didn't say what the highest form is.) I say, "Why stop there. How about calling sitcoms the lowest form of entertainment, period?"

Watch TV and judge the judges. Now do the same with the NFL. You might be upset about your favorite potential singer being judged "out" of a competition on "American Idol" or "The Voice." Perhaps your favorite dancer had to leave "Dancing with the Stars" or "So You Think You Can Dance?" Do you have a choice? Sure, change the channel.

"Watch Shows. Not commercials." For Dish Network, this is now a constant marketing tagline displayed on TV-related business sites and on other media. This of course refers to Dish's new Hopper set-top box, and its AutoHop function that can automatically erase the prime-time commercials of the four major networks while recording TV shows.

Seek high and low for your underdeveloped networks, even in this digital media age. News Corp. has a few of these channels, like Speed and Fuel, which News Corp. senior executive Chase Carey says "give us a real opportunity to do some really exciting things."If Walt Disney had an ESPN5, or Discovery Network a Rougher Seas channel, or Lifetime an Extreme Tears network, each could hope for the same: find a way to use a somewhat forgotten network and revamp it into a a more niche general entertainment channel, news channel, or perhaps a no-hold-barred-attitude sports network.

Who hasn't used the phrase, "Hey this is like a Lifetime movie"? This implies some sort of cheesy, weepy tale, with perhaps a few awkward dramatic relationship moments, a life-threatening disease and heartache, and perhaps melancholy dialogue and music. So is it any wonder that Lifetime has decided to go with the flow after all these years and start an unscripted series called "My Life is a Lifetime Movie"?

Now we move into the next phase of TV presidential content -- the debates. Unlike in previous elections, the debates come on top of wall-to-wall ads. The ultimate ROI for political ads is measured by votes delivered -- or at least the right kind of votes. TV debates aren't usually big dramatic affairs. Viewers need to hang in for some 90 minutes or so in order to find a big reason to cheer or groan. So there's a lot of media inefficiency. In 2008, 52.4 million people watched the first debate between Sen. Barack ...

Dish Network wants viewers to have a choice in how they skip TV commericials, with its new AutoHop feature allowing consumers to skip prime-time ads in bulk. I believe TV networks should also offer a choice to some business partners.